You should build real projects. I just saw someone get a job because he made a real project at the @RecurseCenter, and yet I constantly see people building fake stuff. In the past, even fake projects had some value. They could be good learning exercises, and they showed others (e.g., potential employers) that you could program. But today, anybody can generate slop, and even if you do understand it, everyone else will assume you don't. The only thing fake projects signal is a lack of effort and care. Fake projects are those made for no reason except to pass a class, post to a templated "Projects" page, or say that you built something. They're generic, low-effort, and immediately discarded -- even their creators don't use them! (Which is to say: in the rare case you build something for no reason but then you end up using and improving it, it's no longer fake!) Real projects are the opposite: They are labors of love or necessity or both. They are ones you polish and pore over until they shine. They are ones you could explain in depth without preparation, because their architecture and design decisions are choices you made with great care, effort, or regret. Real projects are ones you work on for yourself, not someone else. Most importantly: real projects are GOOD; they do not have obvious shortcomings or bugs or slightly broken CSS, because you (and possibly others) have actually used and then improved them. Real projects are ones that have value even if they don't help you get a job. Which, paradoxically, is why they so frequently do.